Artist Portrait Series by Simon Kim

This week, we’re featuring a series from Australian film photographer Simon Kim. Simon was able to spend time with charcoal artist Roman Langginou and capture a bit of his process on film. Scroll down to see the images and read more from Simon about his time working with Roman.

Analog cameras and films used: Mamiya 645 Pro (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Simon: Website | Instagram

Roman Longginou: Website | Instagram

From Simon Kim:

To this day, Roman Longginou’s work stuns me speechless with his ability to convey such emotional and refined ideas with only a charcoal pencil and a few cups of coffee.

This studio visit has been on my mind for at least a year (since my first encounter with Roman,) and, yet oddly enough, the confinement of COVID-19 somehow finally led to capturing the brilliant mind of Roman Longginou in his studio.

Firstly, upon arriving in his space, the minimal lighting that were a benefit to his long hours of studio work became a bit of an obstacle for a stock such as Portra 400.

However, Roman directed me to an enormous lamp he uses to spotlight his work.

What followed was placing my Mamiya 645 Pro on a tripod at 1/60th of a second and aiming the spotlight directly onto Roman for a dramatic look. Luckily, I received minimal-to-none image shake in my scans and the lighting was clear as day.

But I didn’t want this collection to be a display of Roman and his work only – any visitor to his exhibition could do the same.

I wanted to reflect who he was in the brief moments I had with him – visionary, prolific and most of all, genuine.

Luckily, the sun had revealed itself from the clouds, and I asked to take a few frames of him outside.

Roman wanted to avoid cliche’s or anything too awkward, which I agreed; however, I emphasized my aim was to capture as much honesty as we could, so even if the awkwardness seeped out in a photo, I feel that I achieved my goal.

I would have to say, the Mamiya 645 paired with the Sekor C 80mm f2.8 lens does an outstanding job in delivering creamy bokeh and fine-tuned frames.

This collection was certainly different from the portraits I normally gravitate towards and, potentially, a new step forward into capturing the honesty and innovative works of local, gifted artists.

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